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A Tropical Disease Mystery

Some of the brands implicated in the aromatherapy melioidosis outbreak.
Some of the brands implicated in the aromatherapy melioidosis outbreak. Photo: Consumer Safety Products Consmissions

A small but alarming outbreak this year left even the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention initially baffled. In July, the CDC reported that three patients in different states had all contracted the tropical bacterial disease melioidosis; eventually, a fourth case was found, and two people subsequently died.

Melioidosis is endemic in the dirt and water of the warmer areas of the world, and though it can be treated with antibiotics, it’s often hard to diagnose, and up to 40% of those infected die. The cases were mysterious because melioidosis isn’t supposed to be native to the U.S., yet none of the victims had recently traveled elsewhere. By late October, the CDC had finally cracked the case. The culprit: contaminated bottles of an aromatherapy spray sold exclusively at Walmart. Testing confirmed that the bacteria found in a bottle belonging to one victim matched the bacteria that had sickened all four patients. The products were recalled, and no further cases have been reported since.

Interestingly enough, there was another unusual case of melioidosis reported in the U.S. this year, though it actually took place in 2019. A different group of CDC scientists reported that a Maryland woman contracted melioidosis through contaminated water from her home freshwater aquarium. The woman survived, and no further cases connected to the pet store where the water came from were identified.

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